Methods and apparatus to access media

ABSTRACT

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to share media are disclosed. An example method involves receiving from a mobile device a representation of media content detected at the mobile device. The example method also involves receiving from the mobile device a first user identifier of a first user of the mobile device and a second user identifier of a second user different from the first user. In addition, the media content is identified based on the representation of the media content. The second user is selectively provided with access to the media content based on the second user identifier.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to monitoring media and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to access media.

BACKGROUND

People are often exposed to media content presented by mediapresentation devices such as televisions, radios, computers, mediareproduction devices (e.g., digital versatile disk players, compact diskplayers, tape players, personal video recorder, a digital videorecorder, etc.), etc. Such media exposure may occur within privateplaces such as households and/or work environments and/or may occurwithin public places such as restaurants, retail establishments, malls,stores, entertainment venues, etc. When a person is interested inobtaining and/or sharing media content to which the person is exposed,the person must often spend significant time and resources to identifythe media content, determine where to obtain copies of the mediacontent, and identify the most suitable manner of sharing the mediacontent with others. Such exhaustion of time and resources oftendiscourages people from seeking to obtain and/or share the mediacontent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example internetwork system that may be used toshare and/or record media content.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation of the media access serviceentity of FIG. 1 to facilitate sharing and/or recording media content.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example apparatus that may be used to initiatesharing and/or recording of media content from a user device of FIGS. 1and 2 in accordance with example methods disclosed herein.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are a flow diagram representative of example machinereadable instructions that may be executed at the user device of FIGS. 1and 2 to initiate sharing and/or recording of media content.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are a flow diagram representative of example machinereadable instructions that may be executed at the example media accessservice entity of FIGS. 1 and 2 to share and/or record media content.

FIG. 6 is an example processor system that may be used to execute theexample instructions of FIGS. 4A and 4B to implement the exampleapparatus of FIG. 3 and/or to execute the example instructions of FIGS.5A and 5B to implement systems and/or apparatus of the example mediaaccess service entity of FIGS. 1 and/or 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacturedisclosed herein may be used to share media. Some examples disclosedherein may be used to equip user devices such as personal computers,portable devices, mobile phones, Internet appliances, and/or any otheruser device to monitor media presentations occurring external to theuser devices and enable users to share and/or record media contentdetected in the monitored media presentations.

Disclosed example methods to share and/or record media involve receivingfrom a mobile device media-representative information (e.g., arepresentation (e.g., a signature, a code, a recorded segment, metadata,etc.) of media content) detected by the mobile device via a sensor(e.g., a microphone, a camera or imaging sensor, etc.). The mediacontent (e.g., a television program, a movie, a newscast, radio content,a song, an image, an advertisement, etc.) is presented by a mediapresentation device (e.g., a television, a radio, a computer, anaudio/video advertisement device, etc.) separate from the mobile device.Such example methods also involve receiving from the mobile device afirst user identifier (e.g., an email address, a username, etc.) of afirst user of the mobile device and a second user identifier (e.g., anemail address, a username, etc.) of a second user. Such example methodsalso involve identifying the media content based on the representationof the media content. In some such examples, the first user identifieris used to send the first user a hyperlink corresponding to an Internetlocation (e.g., a media database proprietor server) that provides accessto the media content.

Some example methods selectively provide the second user with access tothe media content based on the second user identifier. For example, amedia database proprietor server may send a copy of the media content toan email address or a web page of the second user based on the seconduser identifier. Additionally or alternatively, a hyperlink to the mediacontent stored at a media database may be sent to the email address orposted to the web page of the second user based on the second useridentifier.

In some examples, an audience-interest credit or receptivity credit isawarded to at least one of a television program episode, a movie, or asong advertised in the media content based on receiving therepresentation of the media content from the mobile device. As usedherein, audience-interest or receptivity indicates audience interest inmedia content or media content categories. The audience-interest orreceptivity metric quantifies receptivity and may be measured bydetecting when an audience member elects to share media content to whichthe audience member was exposed. Such audience-interest or receptivitymetric may indicate that the audience member found the media contentrelevant to her/him and/or that the audience member would like to seeother similar or related media content (e.g., in the samecategory/genre, by the same media network, by the same productioncompany/record label, by the same artist, with the same actor(s), aboutthe same product, etc.).

In some examples, additional content relevant to at least one of thefirst user or the second user is identified based on at least one of acharacteristic of the media content or demographic information of thefirst user and/or the second user. For example, such additional contentmay be one or more advertisements selected as relevant to at least oneof the first user or the second user based on their demographicinformation or selected as relevant to the nature of the media contentbased on the characteristic of the media content. Additionally oralternatively, such additional content may be one or more of televisionprogram episode(s) or clip(s), song(s) or song clip(s), movie(s) ormovie clip(s), newscast(s) or newscast clip(s), advertisement(s) and/orany other feature presentation(s) or feature presentation clip(s)selected as relevant to at least one of the first user or the seconduser based on their demographic information or selected as relevant tothe nature of the media content based on the characteristic of the mediacontent.

In some examples, a request may be received from the mobile device toinitiate storing of at least one of a copy of the media content, a copyof a television program episode advertised in the media content, a copyof a movie advertised in the media content, or a copy of a songadvertised in the media content. In such examples, the storing may occurat a cloud-based digital video recorder location accessible by the firstuser.

Example systems and apparatus to share media are also disclosed. Adisclosed example system includes an application program distributioninterface to provide access to an application program for downloading toa user device. In some examples, the application program receives userinput from a first user to cause the user device to initiate a samplingof ambient sound detectable by the user device, collect representativeinformation (e.g., a signature, a code, a recorded segment, metadata,etc.) corresponding to media content contributing to the ambient sound,and receive an indication of a second user to receive access to themedia content. In some examples, the media content is presented by amedia presentation device (e.g., a television, a radio, a computer, anaudio/video advertisement device, etc.) that is separate from the userdevice. Some such example systems also include a query interface toreceive the representative information from the user device viainternetwork communications and a media content recognizer to identifythe media content based on the representative information. In addition,some such example system includes a media access provider to send to thefirst user a hyperlink to access the media content and to selectivelyprovide the second user with access to the media content.

Some disclosed example systems include an advertisement interface toindicate a first advertisement to combine with a presentation of themedia content when the media content is accessed via the hyperlink bythe first user and to indicate a second advertisement to combine with apresentation of the media content when the media content is accessed bythe second user. In some examples, the first advertisement is selectedbased on at least one of a first demographic characteristic of the firstuser or a characteristic of the media content, and the secondadvertisement is selected based on at least one of a second demographiccharacteristic of the second user or the characteristic of the mediacontent.

Some disclosed example systems include an advertiser interface to submitat least one of the first demographic characteristic, the seconddemographic characteristic, or the characteristic of the media contentto an advertisement network proprietor. In response, the advertisementinterface receives from the advertisement network proprietor a firstadvertisement identifier of the first advertisement and a secondadvertisement identifier of the second advertisement. In some examples,the advertisement interface indicates the first advertisement based onthe first advertisement identifier received by the advertiser interfaceand indicates the second advertisement based on the second advertisementidentifier received by the advertiser interface.

Some disclosed example systems include a cloud-based digital videorecorder (DVR) interface to initiate storing of at least one of a copyof the media content, a copy of a television program episode advertisedin the media content, a copy of a movie advertised in the media content,or a copy of a song advertised in the media content. In such someexamples, the storing occurs at a cloud-based digital video recorderlocation accessible by the first user.

Some disclosed example systems include an audience-interest interface toaward an audience-interest credit or receptivity credit to at least oneof the media content, a television program episode advertised in themedia content, a movie advertised in the media content, or a songadvertised in the media content based on the query interface receivingthe representative information from the user device.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example internetwork system 100 that may be usedto share and/or record media content (e.g., television program episodes,movies, songs, radio content, newscasts, images, advertisements, etc.).In the illustrated example, a user device 102 operable by a person oruser 104 is configured to detect and capture ambient audio and/or videofrom media content 106 presented by a media presentation device 108. Themedia presentation device 108 may be separate and external from the userdevice 102 and/or may be integrated in the user device 102. In thismanner, when the user 104 finds an interest in, or an affinity to, mediacontent to which the user 104 is exposed by the media presentationdevice 108, the user 104 may operate the user device 102 to initiatesharing of the detected media content with one or more others and/or toinitiate recording of the detected media content. In illustratedexamples disclosed herein, the sharing and/or recording of media contentinvolves sending or providing access to a copy of the media content ofinterest (e.g., in its entirety). That is, at the request of the user104, the user device 102 of the illustrated example collectsrepresentative information (e.g., a signature, a code, metadata, arecorded audio and/or video sample segment, an image, etc.) from thedetected media content 106 that is presented by the media presentationdevice 108. Based on the collected representative information, the mediacontent 106 can be recognized as discussed in detail below and a copy ofthe media content 106 in its entirety (e.g., an entire televisionprogram episode, an entire movie, an entire song, an entireadvertisement, an entire radio program, an entire newscast, etc.) or aclip or portion thereof can be shared with others and/or recorded (orstored) for later playback by the user 104. In some examples, the mediacontent 106 is presented by the media presentation device 108 as part ofan advertisement for the media content 106. For example, the mediacontent 106 may be a television program episode advertised in anadvertisement, a movie advertised in an advertisement, and/or a songadvertised in an advertisement.

In the illustrated example, sharing of the media content 106 may beperformed by sending one or more hyperlinks for Internet-accessiblelocation(s) storing copy(ies) of the media content 106 and/or by sendingcopy(ies) of the media content 106 to user(s) or person(s) via useremail account(s) 110 a and 110 b and/or via posting(s) on personal webpage(s) 112 a and 112 b (e.g., registered user pages of social networkservices such as Facebook). Also in the illustrated example, recordingof the detected media content 106 is performed at a remotenetwork-accessible location such as a cloud-based digital video recorder(DVR) 114 for later playback.

In the illustrated example, the user device 102 is shown as a mobilecommunication device capable of wireless communications (e.g., cellularcommunications, Wi-Fi communications, etc.). However, in other examples,techniques disclosed herein may be implemented in connection with othertypes of user devices such as personal computers, computing tablets(e.g., an IPAD® tablet), personal digital assistants (PDA's), portablemedia players, electronic watches, wearable electronic accessories, etc.The media presentation device 108 of the illustrated example may be anytype of device capable of presenting audio, video, images, etc.perceivable to users (e.g., the user 104) and detectable by user devices(e.g., the user device 102) when in the vicinity of the mediapresentation device 108. For example, the media presentation device 108may be a radio, audio speakers, a television, a computer, anadvertisement display, etc.

In the illustrated example, the media presentation device 108 is shownas receiving over-the-air (OTA) media content broadcast by a broadcasttransmission station 116. In the illustrated example, the broadcasttransmission station 116 is operated by a local broadcast media networkthat receives content from a media content provider 118. The mediacontent provider 118 of the illustrated example may be the localbroadcast media network or may be a parent media network or athird-party provider of media content. In the illustrated example, themedia content provider 118 includes a media data store 120 that storesmedia content (e.g., television programs, movies, songs, radio content,images, etc.) to be broadcast by the broadcast transmission station 116and received and reproduced by the media presentation device 108.Although the illustrated example of FIG. 1 shows the media presentationdevice 108 as receiving OTA media content broadcast transmissions fromthe broadcast transmission station 116, in other examples, the mediapresentation device 108 may additionally or alternatively receive andreproduce media content from cable television/radio transmissionsystems, satellite transmission systems, Internet-based transmissionsystems (e.g., satellite radio and/or television, internet protocoltelevision (IPTV), internet radio, streaming audio/video, etc.), and/orstorage media (e.g., compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks(DVDs), hard drives, solid-state memory devices, tapes,network-accessible storage devices, etc.).

In the illustrated example of FIG. 1, an example media access serviceentity 122 facilitates the sharing and/or recording of the media content106 detected by the user device 102. The media access service entity 122and the user device 102 exchange communications via an internetwork suchas the Internet 124 as shown in the illustrated example of FIG. 1. Toinitiate sharing and/or recording of the media content 106, the user 104interacts with the user device 102 to submit a request. In response, theuser device 102 sends the request to the media access service entity 122in the form of a query along with media-representative informationcollected by the user device 102 from the detected media content 106presented by the media presentation device 108. In this manner, themedia access service entity 122 may perform a media recognition processon the media-representative information to recognize the media content106 presented by the media presentation device 108 and for which theuser 104 has expressed an interest in sharing with one or more otherpersons and/or an interest in recording or storing for later playback.The media-representative information may be any one or more mediarepresentations, such as signatures, codes, metadata, captured mediasegment samples, audio samples, video samples, etc., that are generated,extracted, and/or collected by the user device 102.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 1, the media access service entity122 includes a broadcast media recorder 126, a recorded media andlicense data store 128, a media access server 130, and an audiencemeasurement data store 132. The broadcast media recorder 126 of theillustrated example receives media content broadcast transmissions fromthe broadcast transmission station 116 and records and/or stores thereceived media content in the recorded media and license data store 128.The example recorded media license data store 128 also stores licensinginformation for the stored media. The license information defines anyrights of the media access service entity 122 to reproduce, distribute,and/or provide access to the stored media content (e.g., a stored copyof the media content 106) in the recorded media and license data store128.

In some examples, the broadcast media recorder includes or is connectedto multiple tuners (e.g., television tuners and/or radio tuners) so thatit can receive multiple broadcast channels simultaneously and recordmultiple media content being transmitted simultaneously. In this manner,the recorded media and license data store 128 can store numerous mediacontent to which the user 104 and/or other users may be exposed viadifferent media presentation devices such as the media presentationdevice 108. Storing such a vast quantity of media content enables themedia access service entity 122 to provide access to a wide range (e.g.,virtually any) media content to which the user 104 (or any other user)may be exposed. For example, if the broadcast transmission station 116broadcasts a particular television program episode, the mediapresentation device 108 and the broadcast media recorder 126 willreceive it simultaneously. While the media presentation device 108 willreproduce and present the television program episode, the broadcastmedia recorder 126 will record and/or store a recorded copy of thetelevision program episode in the recorded media and license data store128. If the user 104 requests to share and/or record the televisionprogram episode based on his/her exposure to it via the mediapresentation device 108, the media access share entity 122 can providesuch access and/or recording based on its copy of the television programepisode stored in the recorded media and license data store 128.

In the illustrated examples, the media access service entity 122provides the user 104, and/or any other person(s) indicated by the user104, access to one or more copies of media content 106 in the form of ahyperlink or a copy of the media content 106. In the illustrated exampleof FIG. 1, the media access service entity 122 provides such access bysending a hyperlink or a copy of the media content 106 to the emailaccount 110 a of the user 104 and/or posting a hyperlink or a copy ofthe media content 106 to the web page 112 a of the user 104. Inaddition, the media access service entity 122 sends the hyperlink orcopy of the media content 106 to the email account 110 b of at least asecond person indicated by the user 104 and/or posts the hyperlink orcopy of the media content 106 to the web page 112 b of at least thesecond person indicated by the user 104.

To initiate sharing and/or recording of the media content 106, the mediaaccess server 130 of the illustrated example receives a query from theuser device 102 requesting to share and/or record the media content 106.In the illustrated example, the media access server 130 recognizes themedia content 106 based on media-representative information received inthe query from the user device 102 and determines whether a copy of themedia content 106 is stored in the recorded media and license data store128 and/or whether access to such media content 106 must be provided bya third-party (e.g., the media content provider 118). For example, ifthe media access service entity 122 has not secured a license to recordand/or distribute the media content 106, the media access service entity122 defers to the owner and/or licensee(s) of the media content 106 toprovide access to such media content 106. In the illustrated example,the media content provider 118 may be an owner and/or distributionlicensee of some media content and/or may have an agreement with themedia access service entity 122 to allow the media access service entity122 to send hyperlinks to users (e.g., the user 104 and/or a number ofsecond users specified by the user 104) that enable accessing requestedmedia content from the media data store 120 and/or anotherInternet-accessible storage location controlled by the media contentprovider 118.

In the illustrated example, the media access server 130 also awardsaudience-interest or receptivity credits to media content in which theuser 104 (and/or other users) has expressed an interest by requesting toshare and/or record the media content. The media access server 130 ofthe illustrated example stores such audience-interest or receptivitycredits in the audience measurement data store 132 in association withidentifiers of corresponding media content. Such audience-interest orreceptivity credits can subsequently be used to generate and/orsupplement media ratings for different media content.

In some examples, the media access service entity 122 identifiesadditional or auxiliary media content that may be of interest to theuser 104 or one or more second user(s) specified by the user 104 toreceive a copy of the indicated media content 106. Such auxiliary mediacontent may be other media programming (e.g., clips of or full-lengthtelevision program episodes, movies, songs, newscasts, etc.) and/oradvertisements. Selection of the auxiliary media content may beperformed by the media access server 130 or a third-party system orentity that is separate from the media access service entity 122. Theauxiliary media content may be selected based on at least one of a firstdemographic characteristic(s) of the user 104, a second demographiccharacteristic(s) of at least a second person specified by the user 104,and/or a characteristic(s) of the media content 106 that the user 104requested to share and/or record. In some examples, different auxiliarymedia content may be selected for the user 104 and for the one or moresecond users. For example, first auxiliary media content for the user104 may be selected based on at least one of a first demographiccharacteristic(s) of the user 104 and/or a characteristic of the mediacontent 106, and second auxiliary media content different from the firstauxiliary media content may be selected for a second person based on atleast one of a second demographic characteristic(s) of the second personand/or the characteristic of the media content 106. Further, whendemographic information for the user 104 and/or the second specifiedperson(s) is not available to the media access service entity 122 or athird-party entity that selects auxiliary media content, auxiliary mediacontent can be selected based on one or more characteristics of themedia content 106 and/or any other criteria (e.g., a contractualcommitment). If the user 104 and/or the second specified person(s) areinterested in the subject or contents of the media content 106, there isa high likelihood that the user 104 and/or the second specifiedperson(s) will be interested in auxiliary media content havingsimilarities to one or more characteristics of the media content 106.

To provide the auxiliary media content to the user 104 and/or one ormore specified second person(s), the media access server 130 of FIG. 1generates a media content compilation including a copy of the mediacontent 106 and one or more auxiliary media content and provides thecopy of the media content compilation or a hyperlink to access the copyof the media content compilation to the user 104 and/or the one or morespecified person(s). As discussed above, auxiliary media contentselected for the user 104 may be different from auxiliary media contentselected for the one or more specified second person(s). As such, amedia content compilation prepared for the user 104 may have differentauxiliary media content than a media content compilation prepared forthe one or more specified second person(s). When the user 104 selects torecord or store a copy of the media content 106 in the cloud-based DVR114, a corresponding media content compilation including the auxiliarymedia content is stored in the cloud-based DVR 114 for later playback bythe user 104.

To store demographic information of the user 104 and other persons, ademographics data store 134 is operated and maintained by the mediaaccess service entity 122 or a third-party database proprietor. In someexamples, the media access service entity 122 maintains a demographicsdatabase and a third-party database proprietor maintains anotherdemographics database. In this manner, when the media access serviceentity 122 does not have demographic information for a particular user,the media access service entity 122 may request such demographicinformation from the third-party database proprietor. In some examples,demographic information may be maintained based on specific personsand/or based on geographic areas of different demographic markets. Fordemographic information stored for specific users, such demographicinformation is matched to specific users based on unique useridentifiers. For demographic information stored for geographic areas,such demographic information is matched to different users based ongeographic-indicative identifiers. Such geographic indicativeidentifiers may be, for example, internet protocol (IP) addressesassigned to particular geographic areas, IP address prefixes assigned toparticular geographic areas, cellular tower identifiers, postal zipcodes, municipality names, etc.

In some examples in which auxiliary media content may be advertisements,such advertisements are provided by one or more advertisement networks,one of which is shown in the illustrated example of FIG. 1 as anadvertisement network proprietor 136. In the illustrated example, toselect advertisements that are relevant to the user 104 and/or thespecified second person(s), the media access server 130 sendsdemographic information and/or characteristic information of the mediacontent 106 to the advertisement network proprietor 136. The mediaaccess server 130 then receives one or more copy(ies) of, or one or morehyperlink(s) to, one or more relevant advertisement spot(s) from theadvertisement network proprietor 136.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation of the example media accessservice entity 122 of FIG. 1 to facilitate sharing and/or recordingmedia content (e.g., the media content 106 of FIG. 1). In theillustrated example, the media access service entity 122 includes thebroadcast media recorder 126 and the recorded media and license datastore 128 of FIG. 2. To store a hyperlink to media content (e.g., themedia content 106 of FIG. 1) or to auxiliary media content (e.g., anadvertisement, a similar or related television program episodes, amovie, a song, a newscast, etc.), the media access service entity 122 ofthe illustrated example is provided with an external media links datastore 202. In some examples, hyperlinks stored in the external medialinks data store 202 correspond to advertisements hosted by theadvertisement network proprietor 136 of FIG. 1.

In the illustrated example, to receive OTA broadcast mediatransmissions, IP-based media transmissions, or cable-distributionsystem based media transmissions, the media access service entity 122 isprovided with media tuners 204 a-b. Each of the media tuners 204 a-b ofthe illustrated example is implemented using an HDHomeRun® dual tuner,model no. HDHR3-US, manufactured and sold by SiliconDust USA, Inc. ofPleasanton, Calif., USA. The HDHomeRun® dual tuner is a high-definition(HD) television tuner that receives and tunes broadcast mediatransmissions using two tuners and outputs media content streams via anEthernet network port. Additionally or alternatively, one or both of themedia tuners 204 a-b and/or other media tuners of the media accessservice entity 122 may be implemented using other OTA television tuners,OTA radio tuners, Internet radio tuners, and/or IPTV tuners. Todistribute the media content to the broadcast media recorder 126, themedia tuners 204 a-b are connected to a network switch 206, which may beimplemented using, for example, a 100 Mbps Ethernet switch.

To generate and/or collect media-representative information (e.g.,audio/video signatures, codes, metadata, sample segments, etc.), themedia access service entity 122 of FIG. 2 is provided with a mediareference collector 208. In the illustrated example, the media referencecollector 208 is to receive a reproduction of the media content 106 andcollect media-representative reference information by generating audioand/or video signatures based thereon, extracting codes therefrom,extracting metadata therefrom, and/or recording or copying samplesegments thereof. An example media references data store 210 stores themedia-representative reference information generated and/or collected bythe media reference collector 208.

The media-representative reference information may be subsequently usedby the media access service entity 122 to recognize or identify mediacontent (e.g., the media content 106 presented by the media presentationdevice 108). For example, when the user device 102 collectsmedia-representative information, and sends the media-representativeinformation to the media access service entity 122, the media accessservice entity 122 can compare the received media-representativeinformation with media-representative reference information stored inthe media reference data store 210 to recognize or identify the mediacontent 106. In this manner, the media access service entity 122 canprovide the user 104 and/or any other specified second persons access toa copy of the media content 106 stored, for example, in the recordedmedia license data store 128 or at an external third-party media datastore (e.g., the media data store 120 of the media content provider 118of FIG. 1).

To recognize media transmission sources, the media access service entity122 is provided with a watermark detector 212. In the illustratedexample, the watermark detector 212 analyzes and detectsstation-identifying watermarks in received media content transmissions.Such watermarks identify the source of the media broadcasts and can bein the form of audio watermarks or video watermarks. For example, audiowatermarks may be unique chimes or tunes that identify the transmittingstation. Video watermarks may be in the form of graphic symbols or textlocated at top or bottom portions of a video display. Audio and/or videowatermarks which are not human-detectable may alternatively oradditionally be employed.

In the illustrated example, an example station detector 214 receivesdetected watermark information from the watermark detector 212 andaccesses a station ID (SID) data store 216 to retrieve referencewatermarks. The SID data store 216 stores reference watermarks inassociation with corresponding station identifiers (e.g., stationidentifiers corresponding to the broadcast transmission station 116and/or the media content provider 118). In this manner, the stationdetector 214 can compare detected watermarks received from the stationdetector 214 to reference watermarks from the SID data store 216 andfind matches to identify broadcasting stations that sourced the receivedmedia content (e.g., a broadcast copy of the media content 106).

To recognize media content (e.g., a broadcast copy of the media content106), the media access service entity 122 is provided with a mediacontent recognizer 218. To receive requests to share and/or record mediacontent (e.g., the media content 106), the media access service entity122 is provided with a query interface 220. In the illustrated example,the query interface 220 receives one or more queries from the userdevice 102 including media-representative information collected from theuser device 102 based on its exposure to the media content 106 presentedby the media presentation device 108. The query interface 220 sendscollected media-representative information received from the user device102 via the query to the media content recognizer 218. The media contentrecognizer 218 compares the collected media-representative informationwith media-representative references from the media reference data store210 to find a match and, thus, recognize the media content 106 presentedby the media presentation device 108.

When the media content recognizer 218 of the illustrated exampleidentifies the media content 106, it provides the query interface 220 astorage location in the recorded media and license data store 128 thatstores a copy of the media content 106. The query interface 220 of theillustrated example then submits a request for access to the copy of themedia content 106 to an example media access provider 222. In theillustrated example, the media access provider 222 analyzes theexistence and extent of licensing terms stored in the recorded media andlicense data store 128 to determine whether the media access serviceentity 122 may provide access to its copy of the media content 106stored in the recorded media and license data store 128. If the mediaaccess provider 222 determines that access rights exist, then the mediaaccess provider 222 provides the requested access to the stored copy ofthe media content 106 in the form of a hyperlink or an actual copy ofthe media content 106.

If the media access provider 222 determines that access rights do notexist for the requested copy of the media content 106 based on licenseinformation in the recorded media and license data store 128, the mediaaccess provider 222 retrieves an external hyperlink from an externalmedia links data store 202. In the illustrated example, the externalmedia links data store 202 stores hyperlinks to Internet-accessiblestorage locations of other media database proprietors (e.g., the mediadata store 120 of the media content provider 118) at which requestedmedia content may be accessed. In some example implementations, themedia access provider 222 additionally or alternatively sends requeststo other media database proprietors to obtain hyperlinks to their mediacontent in addition to or instead of storing external hyperlinks in theexternal media links data store 202.

In the illustrated example, the media access provider 222 alsoidentifies auxiliary content that may be of interest to persons based onthe currently and/or previously requested media content (e.g., the mediacontent 106 and/or media content previously requested by that user)and/or demographics of the persons involved in the request (e.g., theuser 104 and/or one or more second persons specified by the user 104 toreceive access to the media content 106). In the illustrated example,the media access provider 222 accesses characteristic information ofmedia content stored in the recorded media and license data store 128and accesses demographic information in the demographic data store 134of FIG. 1. In the illustrated example, to find other media content inthe recorded media and license data store 128 that may be of interest tothe user 104 and/or specified second person(s), the media accessprovider 222 compares characteristic information of the media content106 with characteristic information of other media content stored in therecorded media and license data store 128. Also in the illustratedexample, in association with its stored media content, the recordedmedia and license data store 128 stores demographic informationindicative of audiences to which the media content may be of interest ormay be relevant. In this manner, when the query interface 220 receives arequest from the user device 102 to share and/or record the mediacontent 106, the media access provider 222 can retrieve demographicinformation from the demographics data store 134 of FIG. 1 for the user104 and/or one or more specified second persons. The media accessprovider 222 can then find auxiliary media content in the recorded mediaand license data store 128 having matching demographic information. Themedia access provider 222 then forms a media compilation of the copy ofthe requested media content 106 and the auxiliary media content, andprovides to the user 104 and/or one or more specified second users withaccess to the media compilation in response to the request received fromthe user 104.

In some example implementations, auxiliary media content includes one ormore advertisements. To find relevant advertising spots, the mediaaccess service entity 122 is provided with an advertisement interface224 and an advertiser interface 226. In the illustrated example, theadvertisement interface 224 indicates an advertisement to combine with apresentation of the media content 106 when access to the media content106 is provided to the first user in the form of a copy thereof or ahyperlink thereto. In some examples, the advertisement interface 224 ofthe illustrated example indicates another advertisement to combine witha presentation of the media content 106 when access to the media content106 is provided to one or more second persons specified by the user 104.Such access to second users may also be in the form of a hyperlink or acopy delivered to the second users. In some examples, the advertisementinterface 224 may obtain advertisement spots from the recorded media andlicense data store 128 of the media access service entity 122.Additionally or alternatively, the advertisement interface 224 may workwith the advertiser interface 226 to retrieve advertisement spots fromsources external to the media access service entity 122.

In the illustrated example, to retrieve advertisement spots from, forexample, the advertisement network proprietor 136 of FIG. 1, theadvertiser interface 226 submits to the advertisement network proprietor136 at least one of a demographic characteristic corresponding to theuser 104, a demographic characteristic corresponding to at least asecond person specified by the user 104 to receive access to a copy ofthe media content 106, an identity of the media content 106, and/or acharacteristic of the media content 106. In response, the advertiserinterface 226 receives a first advertisement identifier of a firstadvertisement found to be relevant to the user 104 based on at least oneof the demographic information of the user 104, the identity of themedia content 106, and/or the characteristic of the media content 106.The advertiser interface 226 also receives a second advertisementidentifier of a second advertisement found to be relevant to the secondperson identified by the user 104 based on at least one of thedemographic information of the second person, the identity of the mediacontent 106, and/or the characteristic of the media content 106. In thismanner, the advertiser interface 226 can communicate the first andsecond advertisement identifiers to the advertisement interface 224. Theadvertisement interface 224 of the illustrated example provides themedia access provider 222 with a hyperlink to the first advertisementbased on the first advertisement identifier and a hyperlink to thesecond advertisement based on the second advertisement identifier.

As shown in the illustrated example of FIG. 2, the media access provider222 provides access to the media content 106 or a media contentcompilation including the media content 106 and auxiliary media contentby sending a hyperlink and/or a copy of the media content 106 orcompilation to each of the user email accounts 110 a-b and/or by postinghyperlink(s) and/or copy(ies) of the media content 106 or compilation touser web pages 112 a-b.

In the illustrated example, the media access service entity 122 isprovided with a media creditor 228 and the audience measurement datastore 132. In the illustrated example, the media creditor 228 awardsaudience-interest credits or receptivity credits to media content inwhich users have requested to share and/or record. For example, when themedia content recognizer 218 identifies or recognizes the media content106 which the user 104 has requested to share and/or record, the mediacontent recognizer 218 informs the media creditor 228 of the identity ofthe media content 106. In turn, the media creditor 228 awards anaudience-interest or receptivity credit to the media content 106 in theaudience measurement data store 132. In the illustrated example, theaudience measurement data store 132 stores tallies or counts ofreceptivity credits for different media content recognized by the mediacontent recognizer as requested to be shared and/or recorded by users.

In the illustrated example, the media access service entity 122 isprovided with an application program distribution interface 232 todownload a media access application program 234 to the user device 102and/or any other user devices. When executed by the user device 102, themedia access application program 234 causes the user device 102 todetect media content presented by media presentation devices (e.g., themedia content 106 presented by the media presentation device 108) asrequested by the user 104 and to send requests along with collectedmedia-representative information to the media access service entity 122to share and/or record the detected media content. In some examples,while the user 104 is carrying the user device 102, the media accessapplication program 234 may run automatically and make inferences onmedia content in which the user 104 may be interested. For example, theuser 104 may provide the media access application program 234 with mediapreferences of likes and/or dislikes (e.g., genre, artists, actors,movie types, television program types, music decades, etc.) during aconfiguration process and set the media access application program 234to run as a background application that periodically samples ambientaudio in search of any media content. When the media access applicationprogram 234 detects media content in which the user 104 may beinterested, the media access application program 234 causes the userdevice 102 to store media-representative information and media contentidentifiers (e.g., song title, television program title, televisionprogram episode number, newscast program name, movie title, etc.) in alist of pending media suggestions. The media access application program234 then displays a listing of collected media suggestions for the user104, and the user 104 can select any of the media suggestions in whichthe user 104 is interested. Selection by the user 104 of one or more ofthe media suggestions causes the user device 102 to send correspondingshare and/or record queries to the query interface 220 in the mannerexplained above.

In the illustrated example, to facilitate the media access applicationprogram 234 to recognize media content that may be of interest to theuser 104 based on the user-provided media preferences, the user device102 automatically sends media identification queries to the queryinterface 220 along with collected media-representative information. Inresponse, the query interface 220 sends back media content identifiers(e.g., song title, television program title, television program episodenumber, newscast program name, movie title, etc.) and media metadata(e.g., genre, artist name, movie type, television program type, songdecade, etc.) based on media recognition processes performed by themedia content recognizer 218. In this manner, the media accessapplication program 234 can compare the received media contentidentifiers and/or metadata with its locally stored user-providedpreferences to determine which detected media content may be of interestto the user 104. In other examples, the media access application program234 may send its locally stored user-provided preferences to the queryinterface 220 and request that the query interface 220 provide mediacontent identifiers (e.g., song title, television program title,television program episode number, newscast program name, movie title,etc.) only when the detected media content would be of interest to theuser 104 based on the user-provided media preferences.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, the example media access serverentity 122 may include one or more systems and/or apparatus to implementthe broadcast media recorder 126, the recorded media and license datastore 128, the external media links data store 202, the media tuners 204a-b, the network switch 206, the media reference collector 208, themedia reference data store 210, the watermark detector 212, the stationdetector 214, the SID data store 216, the media content recognizer 218,the query interface 220, the media access provider 222, theadvertisement interface 224, the advertiser interface 226, the mediacreditor 228, the audience measurement data store 132, and/or theapplication program distribution interface 232. While an example mannerof implementing such one or more systems and/or apparatus has beenillustrated in FIG. 2, one or more of the elements, processes and/ordevices illustrated in FIG. 2 may be combined, divided, re-arranged,omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, thebroadcast media recorder 126, the recorded media and license data store128, the external media links data store 202, the media tuners 204 a-b,the network switch 206, the media reference collector 208, the mediareference data store 210, the watermark detector 212, the stationdetector 214, the SID data store 216, the media content recognizer 218,the query interface 220, the media access provider 222, theadvertisement interface 224, the advertiser interface 226, the mediacreditor 228, the audience measurement data store 132, the applicationprogram distribution interface 232 and/or, more generally, the examplesystems and/or apparatus of FIG. 2 may be implemented by hardware,software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/orfirmware. Thus, for example, any of the broadcast media recorder 126,the recorded media and license data store 128, the external media linksdata store 202, the media tuners 204 a-b, the network switch 206, themedia reference collector 208, the media reference data store 210, thewatermark detector 212, the station detector 214, the SID data store216, the media content recognizer 218, the query interface 220, themedia access provider 222, the advertisement interface 224, theadvertiser interface 226, the media creditor 228, the audiencemeasurement data store 132, and the application program distributioninterface 232 and/or, more generally, the example systems and/orapparatus could be implemented by one or more circuit(s), programmableprocessor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)),programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logicdevice(s) (FPLD(s)), etc. In some example implementations, one or moreof the broadcast media recorder 126, the recorded media and license datastore 128, the external media links data store 202, the media tuners 204a-b, the network switch 206, the media reference collector 208, themedia reference data store 210, the watermark detector 212, the stationdetector 214, the SID data store 216, the media content recognizer 218,the query interface 220, the media access provider 222, theadvertisement interface 224, the advertiser interface 226, the mediacreditor 228, the audience measurement data store 132, and/or theapplication program distribution interface 232 may be implemented usingthe media access server 130 of FIG. 1. When any of the appendedapparatus or system claims are read to cover a purely software and/orfirmware implementation, at least one of the broadcast media recorder126, the recorded media and license data store 128, the external medialinks data store 202, the media tuners 204 a-b, the network switch 206,the media reference collector 208, the media reference data store 210,the watermark detector 212, the station detector 214, the SID data store216, the media content recognizer 218, the query interface 220, themedia access provider 222, the advertisement interface 224, theadvertiser interface 226, the media creditor 228, the audiencemeasurement data store 132, and/or the application program distributioninterface 232 appearing in such claim is hereby expressly defined toinclude a tangible computer readable medium such as a memory, DVD, CD,etc. storing the software and/or firmware. Further still, the examplesystems and/or apparatus of FIG. 2 may include one or more elements,processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated in FIG. 2, and/or may include more than one of any or all ofthe illustrated elements, processes and devices.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example apparatus 300 that may be used to initiatesharing and/or recording of media content (e.g., the media content 106)in accordance with example methods disclosed herein. In illustratedexamples disclosed herein, the apparatus 300 may be used to implementthe user device 102 and/or the media access application program 234executed by the user device 102. In the illustrated example of FIG. 3,the example apparatus 300 includes an example user interface 302, anexample sensor interface 304, an example media segment recorder 306, anexample signature generator 308, an example information extractor 310,an example processor 312, an example inferentiator 314, an examplememory 316, and an example communication interface 318. While an examplemanner of implementing the apparatus 300 has been illustrated in FIG. 3,one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated inFIG. 3 may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/orimplemented in any other way. Further, the user interface 302, thesensor interface 304, the media segment recorder 306, the signaturegenerator 308, the information extractor 310, the processor 312, theinferentiator 314, the memory 316, and the communication interface 318and/or, more generally, the example apparatus 300 of FIG. 3 may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination ofhardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the userinterface 302, the sensor interface 304, the media segment recorder 306,the signature generator 308, the information extractor 310, theprocessor 312, the inferentiator 314, the memory 316, and thecommunication interface 318 and/or, more generally, the exampleapparatus 300 could be implemented by one or more circuit(s),programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s)(ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)), etc. When any of the appendedapparatus or system claims are read to cover a purely software and/orfirmware implementation, at least one of the user interface 302, thesensor interface 304, the media segment recorder 306, the signaturegenerator 308, the information extractor 310, the processor 312, theinferentiator 314, the memory 316, and/or the communication interface318 appearing in such claim is hereby expressly defined to include acomputer readable medium such as a memory, DVD, CD, etc. storing thesoftware and/or firmware. Further still, the example apparatus 300 ofFIG. 3 may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices inaddition to, or instead of, those illustrated in FIG. 3, and/or mayinclude more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements,processes and devices.

The user interface 302 of the illustrated example is provided to displayinformation via the user device 102 and to receive user input from theuser 104 via the user device 102. The sensor interface 304 of theillustrated example receives audio, video, and/or image informationcaptured by one or more attached sensors of ambient audio, video, and/orimages detectable by the sensors when the user device 102 is in thevicinity of such ambient audio, video, and/or images. For example, whenthe user device 102 is in sufficient proximity to the media presentationdevice 108 (FIGS. 1 and 2), the sensor interface 304 may receive audio,video, and/or image capture information from one or more attachedsensors based on the detected media content 106 presented by the mediapresentation device 108. In the illustrated example, the sensorinterface 304 communicates with one or both of a microphone or animaging sensor (e.g., a camera sensor).

The media segment recorder 306 of the illustrated example is provided torecord segments of media content obtained via the sensor interface 304.For example, when the sensor interface 304 receives captured information(e.g., audio and/or video segment samples and/or still image captures)from attached sensors, the sensor interface 304 sends the capturedinformation to the media segment recorder 306. In turn, the mediasegment recorder 306 stores the captured information in a memory 316 forsubsequent use in recognizing the detected media content (e.g., themedia content 106 of FIGS. 1 and 2).

The signature generator 308 of the illustrated example is provided togenerate audio, video, and/or still image signatures based on mediasegments recorded and stored by the media segment recorder 306. In thismanner, the generated signatures can be used as media-representativeinformation or media representations from which media content such asthe media content 106 can be recognized.

The information extractor 310 of the illustrated example is provided toextract data and/or codes (e.g., audio codes, video codes, still imagecodes, watermarks, media metadata, etc.) from media segments recordedand stored by the media segment recorder 306. In this manner, theextracted codes can be used as media-representative information or mediarepresentations from which media content such as the media content 106can be recognized.

In some examples, the apparatus 300 may be configured to dynamicallydetermine when to use the signature generator 308 to generatesignatures, when to use the information extractor 310 to extractinformation or codes from detected media content, and/or when not to useeither of the signature generator 308 or the information extractor 310and to instead store one or more media sample segments recorded by themedia segment recorder 306 as media-representative information. Forexample, in instances in which the information extractor 310 analyzesmedia segments recorded by the media segment recorder 306 and determinesthat no embedded information or codes are located therein, the apparatus300 may determine to use the signature generator 308 to generatesignatures of the captured media segments not having embeddedinformation. For instances in which the apparatus 300 is configured tonot use the signature generator 308 or the information extractor 310,the apparatus 300 stores one or more audio sample segments captured bythe media segment recorder 306 in the memory 316 to use amedia-representative information. Although the example apparatus 300 isshown as including both the signature generator 308 and the informationextractor 310, in other examples, the apparatus 300 may be provided withonly the signature generator 308 to always generate signatures ofdetected media content or only the information extractor 310 to extractembedded information or codes when available in detected media contentor neither of the signature generator 308 or the information extractor310, in which case the apparatus 300 stores audio sample segments foruse as media-representative information.

The processor 312 of the illustrated example is provided to manage theoverall operations of the example apparatus 300 and/or the user device102. For example, the processor 312 may facilitate or manage exchange ofinformation within the apparatus 300 and/or between the apparatus 300and external entities such as the media access service entity 122 ofFIGS. 1 and 2. In some examples, the processor 312 determines when touse the signature generator 308 and when to use the informationextractor 310 based on whether embedded information is located in mediasegments recorded by the media segment recorder 306 as discussed above.

The inferentiator 314 of the illustrated example is provided todetermine when the user 104 may be interested in particular detectedmedia content. For example, as discussed above in connection with FIG.2, the user 104 may set the media access application program 234 toautomatically periodically and/or aperiodically monitor ambient audio,video, and/or still images for media content that may be of interest tothe user 104. Under such type of operation, when the apparatus 300obtains media content identification information for media segments fromthe media access service entity 122, the inferentiator 314 determineswhether the user 104 may be interested in the detected media content. Inthe illustrated example, the inferentiator 314 makes such determinationsbased on user-provided media preferences provided by the user 104 to themedia access application program 234 during a configuration phase.

The memory 316 of the illustrated example is provided to store mediasegments recorded by the media segment recorder 306 andmedia-representation information or media representations in the form ofsignatures generated by the signature generator 308 and/or in the formof embedded information or codes extracted by the information extractor310.

The communication interface 318 of the illustrated example is providedto enable communications between the user device 102 and the Internet124 and the media access service entity 122. In this manner, the userdevice 102 can send queries to the media access service entity 122 viathe Internet 124 requesting to share and/or record media content and/orrequesting to receive media identification information (e.g., songtitle, television program title, television program episode number,newscast program name, movie title, etc.) and/or media metadata (e.g.,genre, artist name, movie type, television program type, song decade,etc.) of detected media content. In addition, the user device 102receives communications from the media access service entity 122 via thecommunication interface 318.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are a flow diagram representative of example machinereadable instructions (e.g., the media access application program 234 ofFIG. 2) that may be executed by the user device 102 of FIGS. 1 and 2 toinitiate sharing and/or recording of media content. FIGS. 5A and 5B area flow diagram representative of example machine readable instructionsthat may be executed at the example media access service entity 122 ofFIGS. 1 and 2 to share and/or record media content. The exampleprocesses of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, and 5B may be implemented using machinereadable instructions that, when executed, cause a device (e.g., aprogrammable controller, processor (e.g., the processor 312 of FIG. 3and/or the processor 612 of FIG. 6), or other programmable machine orintegrated circuit) to perform the operations shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A,and 5B. For instance, the example processes of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, and 5Bmay be performed using a processor, a controller, and/or any othersuitable processing device. For example, the example processes of FIGS.4A, 4B, 5A, and 5B may be implemented using coded instructions stored ona tangible machine readable medium such as a flash memory, a read-onlymemory (ROM), and/or a random-access memory (RAM).

As used herein, the term tangible computer readable medium is expresslydefined to include any type of computer readable storage and to excludepropagating signals. Additionally or alternatively, the exampleprocesses of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, and 5B may be implemented using codedinstructions (e.g., computer readable instructions) stored on anon-transitory computer readable medium such as a flash memory, aread-only memory (ROM), a random-access memory (RAM), a cache, or anyother storage media in which information is stored for any duration(e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, brief instances, fortemporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information). As usedherein, the term non-transitory computer readable medium is expresslydefined to include any type of computer readable medium and to excludepropagating signals.

Alternatively, the example processes of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, and 5B may beimplemented using any combination(s) of application specific integratedcircuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)), fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)), discrete logic, hardware,firmware, etc. Also, the example processes of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, and 5Bmay be implemented as any combination(s) of any of the foregoingtechniques, for example, any combination of firmware, software, discretelogic and/or hardware.

Although the example processes of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, and 5B are describedwith reference to the flow diagrams of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, and 5B, othermethods of implementing the processes of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, and 5B may beemployed. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may bechanged, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated,sub-divided, or combined. Additionally, one or both of the exampleprocesses of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, and 5B may be performed sequentiallyand/or in parallel by, for example, separate processing threads,processors, devices, discrete logic, circuits, etc.

Turning to FIGS. 4A and 4B in detail, initially the user device 102receives and installs the media access application program 234 (block402) (FIG. 4A) from the application program distribution interface 232(FIG. 2) of the media access service entity 122 or via another service(e.g., the ITunes® application). The user device 102 then executes orruns the media access application program 234 (block 404), and theprocessor 312 (FIG. 3) determines whether the user device 102 shouldstart a media-representative information collection process (block 406).For example, the user 104 may provide user input via the user interface302 (FIG. 3) specifying to share and/or record media content (e.g., themedia content 106) that the user 104 is exposed to and interested in.Alternatively, the user device 102 operates in an automatic mode inwhich the sensor interface 304 periodically or aperiodically capturesaudio, video, and/or image samples of ambient audio, video, and/orimages in the surrounding area of the user device 102 and theinferentiator 314 (FIG. 3) determines whether the user 104 may beinterested in the detected media content based on user-provided mediapreference information. If the user device 102 should not yet start amedia-representative information collection process, control remains atblock 406 until the media-representative information collection processis to begin or until the example process of FIGS. 4A and 4B ends.

If the user device 102 is to start a media-representative informationcollection process (block 406), the media segment recorder 306 (FIG. 3)captures a media segment (block 408) based on capture informationreceived from the sensor interface 304. The information extractor 310determines whether embedded information (e.g., codes, metadata,watermarks, etc.) are present in the captured media segment (block 410).If embedded information is present, the information extractor 310extracts the embedded information from the captured media segment (block412) and stores the same in the memory 316 to use asmedia-representative information.

If embedded information is not present (block 410), the signaturegenerator 308 determines whether it should generate a signature (block416). For example, the user device 102 may be configured to generatesignatures when embedded information is not present in captured mediasegments. Alternatively, the user device 102 may be configured to notgenerate signatures or extract media information from media segments butto use the one or more media samples captured by the media segmentrecorder 306 as media-representative information. If the signaturegenerator 308 determines that it should generate a signature, thesignature generator 308 generates the signature (block 416) and storesthe same in the memory 316 to use as media-representative information.If the signature generator 308 determines that it should not generatesignatures (block 414), the media segment recorder 306 stores one ormore media samples of the captured media segment in the memory 316 touse as media-representative information (block 418).

The user interface 302 determines whether it has received a request(e.g., from the user 104 of FIGS. 1 and 2) to digitally record detectedmedia content (block 420) (FIG. 4B). For example, the user 104 mayprovide user input to the user device 102 indicating that the user 104is interested in recording and/or sharing the media content 106 of FIGS.1 and 2 when the user 104 hears or sees the media content 106 when it ispresented by the media presentation device 108. Alternatively, the userdevice 102 may display a listing of media content that it has recentlydetected and ask the user 104 whether any of the detected media contentshould be recorded and/or shared.

If the user interface 302 determines that the detected media content 106should be recorded (block 420), the processor 312 sets a digital recordrequest in a media access query (block 422). After setting the digitalrecord request or if the user interface 302 determines at block 420 thatit should not record the media content, the user interface 302determines whether it has received at least one second user identifierindicative of one or more second persons with which to selectively sharethe detected media content 106 (block 424). If the user interface 302has received one or more second user identifiers (block 424) of secondperson(s) with which to selectively share the media content 106, theprocessor 312 locates the media-representative information, the firstuser identifier of the user 104, and the one or more second useridentifier(s) in the media access query (block 426) and control advancesto block 430. If the user interface 302 determines at block 424 that itwill not and has not received one or more second user identifiers (e.g.,the user 104 intends to only record and not share the media content106), the processor 312 locates the media representative information andfirst user identifier of the user 104 in the media access query (block428). The communication interface 318 sends the media access query tothe media access service entity 122 (block 430). The example process ofFIGS. 4A and 4B then ends.

Turning now to the process of FIGS. 5A and 5B, initially, theapplication program distribution interface 232 (FIG. 2) sends the mediaaccess application program 234 (FIG. 2) to the user device 102 (FIGS. 1and 2) (block 502) (FIG. 5A). The query interface 220 (FIG. 2)determines whether it has received a media access query (block 504)from, for example, the user device 102. If the query interface 220 hasnot received a media access query, control remains at block 504 until amedia access query is received or until the example process of FIGS. 5Aand 5B is ended.

If the query interface 220 determines at block 504 that it has receiveda media access query, the query interface 220 obtainsmedia-representative information (e.g., a signature, a code, metadata, amedia sample segment, etc.) from the media access query (block 506). Themedia content recognizer 218 (FIG. 2) compares the media-representativeinformation with media-representative references from the mediareference data source 210 (FIG. 2) (block 508) and recognizes the mediacontent 106 (block 510) based on a matching one of themedia-representative references.

The query interface 220 determines whether it should search for relatedor auxiliary media content (block 512) such as one or moreadvertisements and/or one or more other relevant media content (e.g.,song(s) or song clip(s), television program episode(s) or clip(s),movie(s) or clip(s), etc.). If the query interface 220 determines thatit should not search for related or auxiliary media content, controladvances to block 528 of FIG. 5B.

If the query interface 220 determines at block 512 that it should searchfor related or auxiliary media content, the query interface 220determines whether first user demographic information for the first user104 is available (block 514). For example, the query interface 220 mayquery the demographics data store 134 (FIG. 1) for demographicinformation of the user 104 based on a user identifier of the user 104and/or a geographic area from which the user device 102 sent the mediaaccess query. If the demographics data store 134 has demographicinformation for the user 104, the query interface 220 retrieves thefirst user demographic information (block 516).

After retrieving the demographic information for the user 104 (block516) or if the query interface 220 determines at block 514 that thefirst user demographic information is not available for the user 104,the query interface 220 determines whether media content is to be sharedwith at least one second person (block 518) by, for example, analyzingthe received media access query for the presence of one or more seconduser identifiers indicative of one or more second persons. If the queryinterface 220 determines that the media content is to be shared with oneor more second persons, the query interface 220 retrieves demographicinformation for the second person(s), if available from the demographicsdata store 134 (block 520). After retrieving the demographic informationfor the second person(s) (block 520) or if the query interface 220determines at block 518 that the media content is not to be shared withone or more second persons, control advances to block 522 of FIG. 5B.

The query interface 220 obtains at least one characteristic of therecognized media content 106 (block 522) (FIG. 5B). For example, afterthe media content recognizer 218 recognizes the media content 106, thequery interface 220 can query the recorded media and license data store128 (FIGS. 1 and 2) for information (e.g., metadata) indicative of oneor more characteristics of the recognized media content 106. The queryinterface 524 then obtains related or auxiliary media content (block524). For example, the query interface 524 may search the recorded mediaand license data store 128 for relevant media content and/or the queryinterface 220 may work with the advertisement interface 224 and/or theadvertiser interface 226 of FIG. 2 to obtain one or more relevantadvertisements based on one or more of the first user demographicinformation of the user 104, the second person(s) demographicinformation, and/or the characteristic(s) of the media content 106. Themedia access provider 222 (FIG. 2) generates a media compilationincluding copies of the media content 106 and one or more related orauxiliary media content (block 526). In some examples, the media accessprovider 222 may generate a different media compilation for each of theuser 104 and the one or more second person(s). In such examples, all ofthe media compilations include a copy of the media content 106, but eachmedia compilation includes a copy of a different auxiliary media contentthat is uniquely selected for the respective recipient (e.g., the user104 or the second person(s)) based on the recipient's demographicinformation.

After generating the media compilation at block 526 or if the queryinterface 220 determines at block 512 (FIG. 5A) that it should notsearch for related or auxiliary media content, the query interface 220determines whether it should initiate a digital recording of the mediacontent 106 at the cloud-based DVR 114 (FIG. 1) (block 528). Forexample, the query interface 220 may analyze the received media accessquery for an indication to record the media content 106. If the queryinterface 220 determines that it should initiate a digital recording ofthe media content 106, the query interface 220 initiates a digitalrecording of the media content 106 (block 530) by, for example, sendinga digital recording request to the cloud-based DVR 114 to store a copyof the media content 106 or the media compilation generated at block526. In some examples, the cloud-based DVR 114 uses a digital rightsmanagement process to determine how to store a copy of the media content106 in a manner consistent with media licensing rights of the mediacontent 106.

After initiating the digital recording at block 530 or if the queryinterface 220 determines at block 528 that it should not initiate adigital recording, the media access provider 222 determines whether itshould create a hyperlink to the media content 106 or the mediacompilation generated at block 526 (block 532). For example, creating ahyperlink may be dictated by user preference or by media distributionlicensing rights available to the media access service entity 122. If auser preference indicates that hyperlinks are preferred and/or iflicense rights require hyperlinks to provide access to the media content106, the media access provider 222 generates a hyperlink to the mediacontent 106 or the media compilation generated at block 526 and locatesthe hyperlink in one or more media access message(s) to be sent to theuser 104 and/or one or more second person(s) selectively specified bythe user 104 (block 534).

If the media access provider 222 determines at block 532 that it shouldnot create a hyperlink to the media content 106 or the media compilationgenerated at block 526, the media access provider 222 generates a copyof the media content 106 or the media compilation generated at block 526(block 536) and attaches the copy to the one or more media accessmessage(s) to be sent to the user 104 and/or one or more secondperson(s) selectively specified by the user 104 (block 538).

After locating the hyperlink in the media access message(s) at block 534or after attaching a copy of the media content 106 or the mediacompilation generated at block 526 to the media access message(s), themedia access provider 222 sends the messages to one or more of the useremail accounts 110 a-b and/or to one or more of the user web pages 112a-b for posting thereon (block 540). In addition, the media creditor 228stores an audience-interest credit or receptivity credit in thereceptivity measures data store 230 as awarded to the media content 106and/or a corresponding network station (e.g., the media content provider118 of FIG. 1) identified by the station detector 214 as being theprovider of the media content 106 (block 542). The example process ofFIGS. 5A and 5B then ends.

FIG. 6 is an example processor system that can be used to execute theexample instructions of FIGS. 4A and 4B to implement the exampleapparatus 300 of FIG. 3 and/or to execute the example instructions ofFIGS. 5A and 5B to implement systems and/or apparatus of the examplemedia access service entity 122 of FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIG. 6,the processor system 610 includes a processor 612 that is coupled to aninterconnection bus 614. The processor 612 may be any suitableprocessor, processing unit, or microprocessor. Although not shown inFIG. 6, the system 610 may be a multi-processor system and, thus, mayinclude one or more additional processors that are identical or similarto the processor 612 and that are communicatively coupled to theinterconnection bus 614.

The processor 612 of FIG. 6 is coupled to a chipset 618, which includesa memory controller 620 and an input/output (I/O) controller 622. Achipset provides I/O and memory management functions as well as aplurality of general purpose and/or special purpose registers, timers,etc. that are accessible or used by one or more processors coupled tothe chipset 618. The memory controller 620 performs functions thatenable the processor 612 (or processors if there are multipleprocessors) to access a system memory 624, a mass storage memory 625,and/or an optical media 627.

In general, the system memory 624 may include any desired type ofvolatile and/or non-volatile memory such as, for example, static randomaccess memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), flash memory,read-only memory (ROM), etc. The mass storage memory 625 may include anydesired type of mass storage device including hard disk drives, opticaldrives, tape storage devices, etc. The optical media 627 may include anydesired type of optical media such as a digital versatile disc (DVD), acompact disc (CD), or a blu-ray optical disc.

The I/O controller 622 performs functions that enable the processor 612to communicate with peripheral input/output (I/O) devices 626 and 628and a network interface 630 via an I/O bus 632. The I/O devices 626 and628 may be any desired type of I/O device such as, for example, akeyboard, a video display or monitor, a mouse, etc. The networkinterface 630 may be, for example, an Ethernet device, an asynchronoustransfer mode (ATM) device, an 802.11 device, a digital subscriber line(DSL) modem, a cable modem, a cellular modem, etc. that enables theprocessor system 610 to communicate with another processor system.

While the memory controller 620 and the I/O controller 622 are depictedin FIG. 6 as separate functional blocks within the chipset 618, thefunctions performed by these blocks may be integrated within a singlesemiconductor circuit or may be implemented using two or more separateintegrated circuits.

Although the above discloses example methods, apparatus, systems, andarticles of manufacture include, among other components, firmware and/orsoftware executed on hardware, it should be noted that such methods,apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are merely illustrativeand should not be considered as limiting. For example, it iscontemplated that any or all of these hardware, firmware, and/orsoftware components could be embodied exclusively in hardware,exclusively in firmware, exclusively in software, or in any combinationof hardware, firmware, and/or software. Accordingly, while the abovedescribes example methods, apparatus, systems, and articles ofmanufacture, the examples provided are not the only ways to implementsuch methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture.Therefore, although certain example methods, apparatus, systems, andarticles of manufacture have been described herein, the scope ofcoverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, thispatent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairlyfalling within the scope of the claims of this patent.

1. A method to share media, comprising: receiving from a mobile device:a representation of media content detected at the mobile device via asensor, the media content being presented by a media presentation deviceseparate from the mobile device, and a first user identifier of a firstuser of the mobile device and a second user identifier of a second userdifferent from the first user; identifying the media content based onthe representation of the media content; and selectively providing thesecond user with access to the media content based on the second useridentifier.
 2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprisingidentifying additional content relevant to at least one of the firstuser or the second user based on at least one of a characteristic of themedia content, an identity of the media content, or demographicinformation of the first user or the second user.
 3. A method as definedin claim 1, further comprising sending a hyperlink to the first userbased on the first user identifier, the hyperlink corresponding to anInternet location that provides access to the media content.
 4. A methodas defined in claim 1, wherein the representation of the media contentis at least one of a segment of the media content, a signature generatedbased on the media content, or a code extracted from the media content.5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second useridentifiers are email addresses.
 6. A method as defined in claim 1,wherein the media content is at least one of a television program, amovie, a newscast, radio content, a song, an image, or an advertisement.7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein selectively providing thesecond user with access to the media content comprises providing thesecond user with a copy of the media content or a hyperlink to accessthe media content via the Internet.
 8. A method as defined in claim 1,further comprising: receiving a request from the mobile device to storethe media content; and initiating storing of at least one of a copy of atelevision program episode advertised in the media content, a copy of amovie advertised in the media content, or a copy of a song advertised inthe media content, the storing occurring at a cloud-based digital videorecorder location accessible by the first user.
 9. A method as definedin claim 1, further comprising awarding an audience-interest credit toat least one of the media content, a television program episodeadvertised in the media content, a movie advertised in the mediacontent, or a song advertised in the media content based on receivingthe representation of the media content from the mobile device.
 10. Asystem to share media, comprising: an application program distributioninterface to download an application program to a user device, theapplication program to receive user input from a first user to cause theuser device to: initiate a sampling of ambient sound detectable by theuser device; collect representative information corresponding to mediacontent contributing to the ambient sound, the media content beingpresented by a media presentation device separate from the user device;and receive an indication of a second user to receive access to themedia content; a query interface to receive the representativeinformation and the indication of the second user from the user devicevia internetwork communications; a media content recognizer to identifythe media content based on the representative information; and a mediaaccess provider to selectively provide the second user with access tothe media content.
 11. A system as defined in claim 10, wherein themedia access provider is further to send to the first user a hyperlinkto access to the media content.
 12. A system as defined in claim 10,further comprising an advertisement interface to indicate a firstadvertisement to combine with a presentation of the media content whenthe media content is accessed via the hyperlink by the first user and toindicate a second advertisement to combine with a presentation of themedia content when the media content is accessed by the second user. 13.A system as defined in claim 12, wherein the first advertisement isselected based on at least one of a first demographic characteristic ofthe first user, an identity of the media content, or a characteristic ofthe media content, and the second advertisement being selected based onat least one of a second demographic characteristic of the second user,an identity of the media content, or the characteristic of the mediacontent.
 14. A system as defined in claim 13, further comprising anadvertiser interface to: submit at least one of the first demographiccharacteristic, the second demographic characteristic, the identity ofthe media content, or the characteristic of the media content to anadvertisement network proprietor; and receive a first advertisementidentifier of the first advertisement and a second advertisementidentifier of the second advertisement, the advertisement interface toindicate the first advertisement based on the first advertisementidentifier and to indicate the second advertisement based on the secondadvertisement identifier.
 15. A system as defined in claim 10, furthercomprising a cloud-based digital video recorder interface to initiatestoring of at least one of a copy of the media content, a copy of atelevision program episode advertised in the media content, a copy of amovie advertised in the media content, or a copy of a song advertised inthe media content, the storing occurring at a cloud-based digital videorecorder location in response to receiving a request from the mobiledevice to store the media content.
 16. A system as defined in claim 10,further comprising an audience-interest interface to award anaudience-interest credit to at least one of the media content, atelevision program episode advertised in the media content, a movieadvertised in the media content, or a song advertised in the mediacontent based on the query interface receiving the representativeinformation from the user device.
 17. A system as defined in claim 10,wherein the representative information is at least one of a codeextracted from the media content or a signature generated based on themedia content.
 18. A tangible machine accessible medium havinginstructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to atleast: receive from a mobile device: a representation of media contentdetected at the mobile device via a sensor, and a first user identifierof a first user of the mobile device and a second user identifier of asecond user different from the first user; identify the media contentbased on the representation of the media content; send a hyperlink tothe first user based on the first user identifier, the hyperlinkcorresponding to an Internet location that provides access to the mediacontent; and selectively provide the second user with access to themedia content based on the second user identifier.
 19. A machineaccessible medium as defined in claim 18 having instructions storedthereon that, when executed, cause the machine to identify additionalcontent relevant to at least one of the first user or the second userbased on at least one of demographic information of the first user orthe second user, an identity of the media content, or a characteristicof the media content.
 20. A machine accessible medium as defined inclaim 19, wherein the additional content is an advertisement.
 21. Amachine accessible medium as defined in claim 18, wherein therepresentation of the media content is at least one of a segment of themedia content, a signature generated based on the media content, or acode extracted from the media content.
 22. A machine accessible mediumas defined in claim 18, wherein the media content is at least one of atelevision program, a movie, a newscast, radio content, a song, animage, or an advertisement.
 23. A machine accessible medium as definedin claim 18 having instructions stored thereon that, when executed,cause the machine to: receive a request from the mobile device to storethe media content; and initiate storing of at least one of a copy of atelevision program episode advertised in the media content, a copy of amovie advertised in the media content, or a copy of a song advertised inthe media content, the storing occurring at a cloud-based digital videorecorder location accessible by the first user.
 24. A machine accessiblemedium as defined in claim 23 having instructions stored thereon that,when executed, cause the machine to award an audience-interest credit toat least one of the television program episode, the movie, or the songbased on the initiating of the storing.